(CP)
Tuesday, May 6, 2008

TORONTO—Three breakaway southern Ontario Anglican parishes won’t get to take their churches with them, an Ontario Superior Court justice said.
However, Justice J.A. Milanetti, in a decision released yesterday, ruled that the withdrawing members of the three parishes must share the parishes with Anglican Diocese of Niagara.

St. Hilda’s in Oakville, St. George’s in Lowville, and Good Shepherd in St. Catharines all have left the Anglican Church of Canada.
They now are aligned with the more conservative Anglican Network in Canada.
They asked the court to grant them exclusive use of the church buildings without interference from the diocese.
The Anglican Diocese of Niagara, meanwhile, had asked the court to order the facilities be shared and jointly managed by the two groups.
“Title to two of the three properties rests with the diocese, the third appears to rest with them, as well,” Milanetti ruled.
“The three parish properties will be jointly managed and administered by a committee consisting of one representative of the withdrawing members of St. George’s, St. Hilda’s, and Good Shepherd, and the Diocesan Administrator for each parish,” she said in her decision.
“Any dispute relating to the management and administration of the three parishes will be referred to an arbitrator.”
The diocese also will have full access to each of the three parishes for three hours each Sunday, and on other feast days and for weddings and funerals, Milanetti ruled.
“Justice Milanetti accepted our proposal for sharing and joint administration as a logical interim solution,” Diocese spokesman Archdeacon Michael Patterson told the Hamilton Spectator last night.
“We feel that we were completely justified in resorting to the courts after negotiations failed.”
A spokeswoman said the breakaway church members were reviewing the court decision.
“It is impossible to accommodate the diocese in the building without creating significant disruption,” said Cheryl Chang, a director of the Anglican Network in Canada.
“We are looking at the reasons for judgment carefully to assess whether it would be appropriate to appeal at this time.”
Last fall, Archbishop Gregory Venables of the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone invited conservative Anglicans in this country to join his church if they are unhappy with the Canadian church’s liberal leanings.
The main dispute has been same-sex marriage blessings. The Canadian church voted last summer that such blessings do not contravene core church doctrine.
The three southern Ontario parishes were among about 15 that formed the Anglican Network in Canada.
Dissident Anglicans believe their core beliefs—the divinity of Jesus Christ, the sanctity of marriage, and the rigidity of the 10 Commandments—are being called into question by the Anglican Church of Canada.
The Anglican Church of Canada says one of the faith’s virtues is welcoming liberal views.
“The Anglican church, at its best, is a broad representation of different views; that’s what separates us from the Roman Catholic Church,” Archdeacon Paul Feheney had said last month.